VISITS & TRIPS

A key component of Pick Me Academy is Educational Visits to local parks and botanical gardens, museums, galleries, the zoo, charity organizations, and a variety of work places, such as hospitals, fire stations, police stations, and embassies, etc.
Linking what children learn in the classroom to what happens in the community is increasing the learning value and motivating students to learn with more enthusiasm and excitement.
Trips can greatly improve children’s understanding of new concepts and are set up as a shared experience that children can enjoy and reflect upon in the time following the trip.
Trips are well planned, with school buses used, and plenty of staff on hand to ensure our children are well-supervised, and we can assure you that all children are excited and eager about going on trips throughout the school year!

LEARNING SUPPORT

Pick Me Academy is an inclusive school where each child is valued as an individual and is encouraged to reach their full potential.
Our Learning Support Team welcome children who have additional learning needs and develop individual plans to suit their requirements.
For some, this will be a short-term plan to overcome a particular barrier, whilst for others there may be the need for ongoing support.
We recognise the broad spectrum of children’s abilities and aim to give every child the opportunity to achieve their potential in learning. Sometimes however, certain children find this difficult and parents become concerned if their child might need extra help with their learning. We are committed to providing a high standard of provision and support for children with special educational needs.
Our school policy ensures that individual needs are identified as early as possible, that appropriate learning programmes (Individual Education Plans) are devised and implemented, and reviewed regularly. Further advice and more specialist input is sought from external support agencies when the need arises.

The Inclusion Leader (SENCO) is a member of our teaching staff who is designated with the responsibility of overseeing special needs provision within the school.
The SENCO works in accordance with the National Code of Practice for SEN, and helps to ensure that all children receive the right level of support. An important part of their role is to ensure that parents are kept well informed about the level of support their child needs and receives at Pick Me Academy.

GIFTED AND TALENTED

Gifted and talented students are equally valued at Pick Me Academy and will be given appropriate additional challenges to ensure that their unique talents are fully engaged and developed.
A differentiated learning plan will be created, extending each child in the classroom whilst mentors will be assigned across groups of children with similar interests and abilities to enhance their learning.

MODERN FOREING LANGUAGES

Dear parents,

In a world that is increasingly interdependent, we can no longer afford to remain monolingual. Learning modern languages is no longer a pastime, it is a necessity.
Pick Me Academy promotes multilingualism, which we find and define not only as important, but also as necessary. It is true that there are more and more people learning and speaking English these days.
In fact, English is, according to some measures, the most widely spoken language in the world, the de facto lingua franca; but why limit our children?
It is true that learning a foreign language is both time consuming and troublesome.
I still recall spending hours trying to memorize hundreds of vocabulary words in French and English , and later in Spanish and the dozen of ways to conjugate verbs. I still cringe when thinking about the deep embarrassment of those awkward moments when I tried to express complex thoughts in front of my foreign classes using kindergarten level because of my limited vocabulary.

In order to avoid the above mentioned, at Pick Me Academy we introduce the children into a multicultural program which will offer them many benefits: will increase their mental focus, their reading and writing abilities and will even improve their mathematical skills.
I don’t know if my geometry or calculus grades jumped up because I was studying French, English or Spanish, but it did sharpen my critical thinking and broadened my perspective about the world.
Learning a language is much more than just some new sentences and new sound patterns. It opens up a whole new world of possibilities. Our children will be able to read the books written in the language, communicate with the people who speak the language and travel to the place independently.
They will know the” hidden cultural codes” in the target language and in their own. These are valuable experiences for cross-cultural communication.

Kind Regards,
Pick Me.

CLUBS

Our clubs offer actively supports the nursery curriculum. This way, each child from Pick Me can be attracted by at least one club which can help him develop his sporting, creative and intellectual skills.

Ballet: 1 session/ week- teacher Flavia Mihasan

Sports: 2 session/ week- teacher Flavia Mihasan

Modern Dance: 1 session/ week- teacher Alina Tarcoman

Ninjutzu: 1 session/ week- Ozon Karyu

Logopedics: Alina Birtan/ Mihaela Stanciu

Music: 1 session/ week- teacher Cezar Ouatu

Drama: 1 session/ week- teacher Eugenia Serban

Winner Kids: 1 session/ week-teacher- Madalina Postelnicu

Chess: 1 session/ week- teacher Irene Sprintaroiu/ Maria Dumitru

German: two sessions/ week – teacher Aura Juganaru

Spanish: one hour per week

French: one hour per week – teacher Mihaela Stanciu

British Culture & Civilization: 2 sessions/ week

Chat and Play: 2 sessions/ week (EAL)

Swimming: 2 sessions/ week (Berry Fitness/ Dinamo Swimming pool)

Art & Crafts: 1 session/ week- Loredana Barbuceanu

Painting: 2 sessions/ week- Loredana Barbucean

ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE (EAL)

As most students are Romanian, it is very important to make sure the EAL programme in the school is strong and it helps children cover all the subjects in the curriculum.
That is why we have a team of professionally qualified, experienced EAL teachers to ensure that our students obtain all the English support they need in order to enjoy their time here at Pick Me Academy and to find success with their studies.
The primary function of the English as an Additional Language department at Pick Me Academy is to provide the necessary English support to help students with a low level of English integrate quickly and easily into an English language environment.

All students attending Pick Me Academy are assessed to determine their level of English. Students identified as needing support will be offered EAL lessons in small groups within the normal student timetable. In-class support is also provided when appropriate.

As an international school, we understand that some of our children will speak little or no English when they join us, however, with the support of our trained EAL team, we are confident that they will soon be able to fully access the curriculum and build the friendships that they need to enjoy their time at our school.

ASSESSMENT

Bassline assessment and attitude tests will be used from Key Stage 1 students using CAT4 and PASS from GL Education provider.
Regular formative assessment is carried out by class teachers with objectives and key skills tracked in Reading, Writing, Maths and Science. Summative assessment takes place throughout the year for all children in the form of end of topic tests/tasks.
End of year assessment is carried out in English, Mathematics and Science through GL Education using the progressions tests. These offer a very good indication of the students level, give us (together with the bassline assessment) the opportunity to calculate the value added and compare our students against the UK national average.
In Key Stages 1 all students study the same subjects, with the exception of Modern Foreign Languages where students have an option of studying French, German or Spanish.